Advent Challenge '15

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Preaching and Period Pain

Last week my husband was away preaching at a uni student conference. I dropped in for a visit to the conference one evening after work (when I say 'dropped in' I drove for an hour and a quarter to get there and was smashed for the next two days ... but hey, so not the point of this story!).

As part of the series of talks on the resurrection, he was talking about this passage in Revelation 21:3-4.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'" (NIV)

To expand his point he listed off all the sadness and pain that would be taken away in the new creation. And then he ended the list with 'period pain'.

The 700 people in the room kind of froze. Then there were a few 'whoops' from across the room. And a few 'YES's!'. And then a lot of nervous giggles (I suspect the 19 year old boys might have been a bit 'What the...?').

Why do I share this story with you? Because I am 45 years old, I have gone to church all my life, sat through countless Bible talks and NEVER, EVER heard any preacher (of either sex) mention the pain and suffering of period pain. It happens to half the population every month for a lot of years of their lives and we never acknowledge the real impact that this has on women.

I have struggled with really bad period pain (and more recently adenomyosis) since I was 13. It's horrible. Only in the last few years have I had respite with an IUD. Yet most of that time I've had to pretend that it really hasn't impacted me. And it's more than just period pain. There are also complex gynaecological issues that devastate women's lives day in day out and never get acknowledged.

I share this with you because to my middle aged self, it felt like a moment.